Santa Cruzan Avery Ruzicka, Manresa Bread’s founder and head baker, brings the bakery to the Westside, joining outposts in Los Gatos, Los Altos, Campbell and Palo Alto. Along with Companion and Kelly’s French Bakery, that makes the Westside the epicenter of contemporary bread-making locally.
Lookout Q&A
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Still putting up fair holiday lights, Dave Kegebein talks about his stunning firing — and future plans
“I don’t want people to think I was trying to steal from the fairgrounds,” Dave Kegebein says in a Q&A in the wake of his October ouster as head of the Santa Cruz County Fair. “It’s the loss of focus on the big picture, which is sometimes astounding.”
Posted inEducation
A marriage of virtual reality and physical therapy: Immergo Labs emerges from its UCSC roots
The COVID-19 pandemic has uncorked the genie from the bottle on telehealth. UC Santa Cruz alums Aviv Elor, Ash Robbins and Michael Powell are bringing physical therapy to your home via their virtual reality telehealth platform, Immergo VR.
Posted inK-12 Education
How one Santa Cruz teacher teaches U.S. history and how she sees her role as a history teacher today
At Lookout, we’re starting a series about how local teachers confront everyday challenges in their classrooms and how they teach their curriculum. For the first installment, Lookout spoke with Kirby School history teacher Eva Schewe about the challenges of teaching U.S. history at a time when states across the country are making attempts to limit how it is being taught.
Posted inFood & Drink
‘Wine Bible’ author Karen MacNeil talks wine trends, history and mysteries
Now in its third edition, “The Wine Bible” is one of the best-selling books on wine of all time. Author Karen MacNeil comes to downtown’s Soif Wine Bar on Thursday at 7 p.m. in an event hosted by Bookshop Santa Cruz, Soif, Santa Cruz DJ, the MAH and the Santa Cruz County Chamber to celebrate the updated classic with local oenophiles.
Posted inEducation
UCSC’s first vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion aims to build on school’s legacy
Anju Reejhsinghani started as UC Santa Cruz’s first vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion Sept. 12 after moving to Santa Cruz just days before. The opportunity to help develop DEI initiatives appealed to her at UCSC, where she felt she could have the most impact and “where folks are ready to do brave and challenging work.”
Posted inEducation
‘Care over profits’: UCSC student body prez organizing to elevate student voice
New student body president Alfredo Gama Salmeron is feeling the excitement of the new year among UC Santa Cruz students as pandemic restrictions have almost entirely ended. With the Student Union Assembly team of directors and volunteers, he hopes to bring students together to create art, improve emotional and academic support for students and reorganize the university’s budget to prioritize students.
Posted inEducation
UCSC naming Research Center for the Americas in honor of civil rights activist Dolores Huerta
For 30 years, the Research Center for the Americas at UC Santa Cruz has been a hub for research on Latin American studies and Chicano/Latino studies. These two fields of study, which focus on the Latin American region and Chicano/Latino people living in the U.S., respectively, while often considered separate, are inextricably linked, director Sylvanna Falcón explains. Falcon says the center’s unique approach is aligned with Dolores Huerta’s advocacy and therefore fit for her name.
Posted inCoast Life
Only one billionaire’s legacy? Santa Cruz’s Patagonia ambassador reflects on Chouinard’s gift to Earth
Many Santa Cruzans might think of the small Patagonia outlet store on River Street as the only local vestige of the iconic outdoor lifestyle brand forged on environmental consciousness that made big headlines recently. But the company’s ethos, made loud and clear by founder and indignant billionaire Yvon Chouinard, is also carried on by people like Kyle Thiermann, a Santa Cruz kid who grew up with a different idea about what a pro surfer could be.
Posted inEducation
UCSC’s groundbreaking computer game program, top 5 nationally, charts ‘astonishing’ path
U.S. News and World Report ranked the UC Santa Cruz undergraduate game design program among the top five in the nation, tying with programs at MIT and Rochester Institute of Technology, according to its 2022-23 analysis. UCSC Computational Media professor Jim Whitehead told Lookout about the program’s history, how gaming studies have changed over time at UCSC and what some of his favorite games are.